In conventional motor vehicles, electronic cameras are used to determine a traffic situation, such cameras being arranged in the front windscreen, and/or the rear windscreen, or in the area of the outer bodywork. These camera systems comprise an optical system and also an image-taking device configured as a chip with an electronic system downstream, so that the image signals may be supplied to an electronic decoding system via corresponding wiring, usually via a coaxial cable.
The camera systems described and used in motor vehicles are compactly designed in a housing, i.e., the optical system, chip and electronic system directly assigned to the chip are combined in a one-piece housing. This compact unit is then inserted into a corresponding carrier in the motor vehicle. A known application is a surround camera, by which the outside environment of the motor vehicle, particularly the rear section, is recorded and reproduced on a screen in the interior.
Surround cameras have hitherto usually been accommodated in a plastic housing. An opening into which the camera housing is inserted and locked in place serves as the carrier at the vehicle end. The carrier or housing exhibit corresponding latching elements, latching lugs and fixing and insertion ribs for fixing the camera. Metal housings of camera systems with more expensive optical systems or larger image chips may not be fixed in these known carrier arrangements or not without additional expense.
DE 102009 011614 A1 describes a locking element comprising two wire brackets. The spring clamp 1 is connected in an articulated manner via a spring carrier 2 to a carrier for an electronic subassembly. The spring carrier 2 is not connected to the carrier frame 6 for the sensor in an articulated fashion. The connection of the spring clamp 1 is made at the housing of the sensor itself, not directly on the carrier. The locking of the solution represented in DE 102009011614 A1 takes place via two spring components and via direct latching to the sensor which is to be held. This means that the flexibility of the carrier is limited, as the components must exhibit a housing which allows latching.
As a further aspect of the housing, in addition to the latching, minimal protection must also be available for the opening for the sensors. If the surround camera is inserted in the front area of the vehicle, it is exposed to stone chips. A covering or shielding is therefore undoubtedly useful.